


Life after death

by Ischa



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League - All Media Types, Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Starting Over, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 19:02:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15955553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ischa/pseuds/Ischa
Summary: In which the author takes on yet another version of how Bruce, Diana and Clark get together. This time around set after Justice League.Clark breaks up with Lois, quits his job at the Planet and deals with his new life after death (by hooking up with Diana and Bruce).“I didn’t. I didn’t know anything. I still don’t know anything, except that you’re different.”“ Death does that to people.”“ What?” Bruce asked.“ Change them,” Clark replied, looking up at the cave ceiling. It was cool down here, but not cold. He liked it for some reason. He thought it suited Bruce well too. Or maybe it suited Batman.“ Arthur said that too,” Bruce said. “Before we brought you back.”“ Did you consider that he might be right?”Bruce blinked. “At the time it was a risk worth taking. I knew we needed you.”





	Life after death

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I should warn for strangeness here. And no beta, except me.

~One~  
Had there ever been a chance that this would have worked out, Clark asked himself as he threw the last of his bags into the back of Diana’s car. He looked up, but didn’t see Lois at the window. He could have used the x-ray vision, but it was too painful right now. She was crying. Hell, he was feeling like crying as well. 

“You ready Clark?” Diana asked gently. 

He nodded. He was not, and he was sure Diana knew, but it wasn’t like he could stand here and cry while his old world was crumbling around him.  
He opened the door and got into the passenger seat. 

“I think you will like the apartment,” Diana said. 

“Thank you for letting me stay.” 

“Of course,” Diana replied.  
She didn’t try talking to him. She was just there: a strong, caring silent presence. Clark was grateful for that. 

~+~  
It was too silent. He could hear everything if he wanted to, but the apartment was too silent. Clark couldn’t sleep and it wasn’t only because Lois wasn’t there beside him. It was something else and he knew it. Lois had known it too, had tried to talk to him about it, but he had assured her he was fine.  
He was not fine. And he was done lying to himself about it.  
He was very far away from fine. So far it wasn’t even funny. But there was nothing he could do about it; there was no one he could talk to about it either.  
He threw the covers off and started pacing the apartment. It was a nice place. It was very Diana. He hadn’t known her for very long, but she hadn’t hesitated to offer him a place to stay when he called. At that moment Clark had realized that he didn’t have any close friends, that most people in his life didn’t really know him.  
He was sure by now everyone at the Planet knew that he and Lois had broken up.  
He walked over to the window and opened it, felt the night air on his skin. Listened to the city and then further. He graced over Gotham. It was irrational because there was no way in hell Bruce would know. On the other hand he had been the one who had seen the motherbox, and come up with the idea to bring Clark back.  
Clark still wasn’t sure why. The man was unpredictable. 

“You’re probably a tool for him like everything else,” he said out loud. 

It was unnerving. Bruce was unnerving Clark. He had been unnerving Clark from the very beginning.  
And Clark was sure it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. 

He sighed, left Gotham behind and stretched his hearing a bit more, there was Barry’s unique heartbeat, the soft hum of Victor’s metal parts. Somewhere on a coast Arthur was laughing and then he let himself linger on Diana’s heartbeat, the rhythm of her breaths. The soft sound of her laughter. He wasn’t going to listen in on her conversation, because that was not the kind of man he wanted to be, but listening to her calmed him down.  
Enough in fact that he could go back to bed and fall asleep.

~+~  
Clark wasn’t sure what kind of magic Bruce had made happen, but he was back on the job, he officially not dead anymore. He was back and he had to see Lois every day. It was not a good arrangement.  
It would be unfair to make her quit, because she was just getting into the spirit of things again and frankly she was a better reporter than him. 

“I talked to Perry,” Lois said, her fingers were on his arm and he wanted to pull her close, because that was familiar, but that wasn’t what they did anymore. “You don’t have to quit.” 

“I already did,” Clark said with a small smile. He didn’t want her to feel guilty. Quitting wasn’t something he did for her. “I did it for me. I just can’t be here right now.” And it wasn’t only because of Lois. There were other reasons. Reasons he had been ignoring because of Lois. 

“Clark-“

“I’m fine,” Clark lied. 

She sighed.  
He knew she wanted to say more, but people were watching them. 

He kissed her forehead. “Thank you.” 

“For what?” 

“Everything,” Clark answered. 

And then he grabbed the box with his things and left the Daily Planet. He wasn’t sure he would ever come back again.

~+~  
“Bruce said he owns other newspapers and magazines,” Diana said, just as she sat down. 

Clark looked at her. He had tried to not notice how stunning she was, but it was hard. He liked the way she moved, how her clothes looked a little bit like armor.  
“I know he does. I know pretty much everything about his Bruce Wayne persona,” Clark replied. 

“Wine with your bad mood?” Diana asked, waving a waiter over. 

He sighed, rubbed a hand over his face. ”Sorry. Hard day, week, month.” 

“Bruce only wants to help.” 

“He bought a bank to make it up to me, Diana,” Clark said. He still didn’t know how he felt about it. It was his childhood home, so he was glad his mother had it back, but on the other hand: Bruce had bought a bank for him. 

“He didn’t buy it for you. I’m sure it’s a good investment too.” She ordered wine for them both and then looked at him once the waiter was gone. “You don’t want a new job?”

He didn’t know what he wanted. What he knew was that Clark Kent was pretty much broke at this point.  
He could leave Clark Kent behind for a while and just be Superman. Superman didn’t need a permanent residence.  
She handed him the menu. “Come on, choose something good.”

“I-“

“I’m paying.” 

“Between you and Bruce, and Arthur I feel like a homeless orphan or a charity case.”

“You’re not an orphan and you aren’t homeless,” Diana said, putting her hand on his. Her hands were strong. He liked them. 

“I’m pretty sure I’m homeless.”

“Bruce just bought a bank, so he could give you your house back, Clark,” Diana said with a smile. “Come on, food.” 

He studied the menu for a few seconds, decided on the chicken and then put it aside. “It’s my parents’ house.”

“It will be yours one day,” Diana said gently. 

When his mother died. Clark hadn’t really thought about that, but it was going to happen. Everyone would die around him, because now he knew that he was pretty much immortal. 

“Until then you are welcome to stay in the apartment in Metropolis. I rarely use it. And now I can just stay at Bruce’s place when I’m in the city.” 

“That window display of a house.” 

“It was built by a famous architect,” Diana said with a smile. Her eyes were laughing at him. He liked her company. He guessed Bruce liked her company as well. 

“It’s strange, because I never thought he would be someone who could live with so many windows. It feels exposed.” 

“Bruce is a constant contradiction,” Diana replied. 

Clark wondered how close Diana and Bruce had become in the months he had been dead. “I wouldn’t know.” 

“You’ll find out,” Diana said. There was utter conviction in her voice. 

Clark hadn’t talked to Bruce in weeks. “Maybe.”

She didn’t reply, instead she waved the waiter over again so they could order. Clark realized that he was starving. 

~+~  
Job offers were in his mailbox and Clark declined them all. He knew Bruce only meant well, but Clark needed to do this on his own. He had worked odd jobs before. He could do it again.  
Construction for example. Preferably on a building that wasn’t being built by Wayne Enterprises. 

On Wednesday, four weeks after Clark broke up with Lois and moved into Diana’s loft Alfred Pennyworth was waiting for him in front of the building. Clark knew that Bruce wasn’t far behind. 

“Here to kidnap me?” Clark asked. 

“Here to invite you to breakfast, Master Kent.” 

“Just Clark,” Clark said. 

Alfred Pennyworth nodded. “Will you join Master Bruce for breakfast?” 

“You arrange all his play dates?” Clark joked. 

“You’d be surprised,” Alfred replied. 

“What does Bruce want?” Clark asked. 

Alfred shook his head. ”You’ll have to ask him yourself.” 

It was his last day off before he was going to start his new job building houses, or malls or whatever the hell needed to be built. He hadn’t seen Bruce for some time and he was curious.  
Clark shrugged and got into the car. 

~+~  
It was a fancy and modern café. Clark wouldn’t have picked it on his own. Everything was bright and smooth. It wasn’t packed. It seemed like a waste of space to have so few tables so far apart but he had to admit that he liked the privacy that arrangement was giving them. Most likely that was the reason why Bruce picked it as well. 

“Do I even want to know what pancakes cost here?” Clark asked. 

Bruce looked up from his newspaper. Clark liked that Bruce actually read print and not on his tablet.  
“What does it matter? You’re not paying for them,” Bruce said. 

Clark had no doubt that Bruce had been aware of him from the moment he had sat foot in the building. Clark had been aware of Bruce too.  
“True enough I guess,” Clark replied and sat down. 

Bruce folded the newspaper and put it on the table. “Pancakes?” 

“And coffee,” Clark said. He liked coffee. He craved food. It was a strange and interesting feeling. He liked feeling hungry. He felt hungry all the time.  
Bruce waved a waiter over and ordered for them. Clark added eggs and bacon to his order and a piece of pie. After all Bruce was paying.  
They looked at each other for a while in silence. Cataloging. At least that was what Clark was doing and he knew that Bruce was doing the same. 

“You look well,” Bruce said. 

“I looked well when I was dead too, so what does that say about me?” Clark mused. 

He could feel Bruce’s sharp gaze on him. “I honestly don’t know.” 

They food came then and gave Clark a moment to gather his thoughts. He wasn’t surprised at all that the food came fast and was extreme delicious.  
“So, what is this? I asked Alfred but he didn’t say and I don’t believe this is a play date.” 

“A play date?” 

“Alfred mentioned something about him arranging them for you?” Clark said. With women most likely. 

“I can arrange my own play dates, I don’t need Alfred for that,” Bruce said and there was a smile curving his lips like he was thinking about something funny. A private moment, something Clark had no way of knowing. Something Clark wanted to know. Wanted to rip out of Bruce, something he was _hungry_ for he realized. He blinked, took a sip of coffee. Willed his heart to calm down.  
“You okay, Clark?” 

“People keep asking me that.” 

“What do you tell them?” Bruce wanted to know. 

“That I’m fine,” Clark answered with a smile. It was the ‘charming farm-boy’ smile. It worked on pretty much everyone. Except, of course, on Bruce. Bruce wasn’t smiling back. 

“You broke up with Lois. The love of your life. The woman that-“

“I know who she is! Was to me. I know what she meant to me,” Clark interrupted. The world. She had meant the world to him, but not anymore. Yes, it still hurt to think of her not by his side, and he knew it was his fault they had fallen apart following the months of his resurrection. She had been understanding at first, but then relentless. Lois was an excellent reporter.  
He looked at Bruce. Bruce was an excellent detective. 

“When you hunted me down, did you know who I was?” Clark asked. 

Bruce swallowed a sip of his coffee. It was the only thing that told Clark he was uncomfortable.  
“No,” he said eventually. 

“No,” Clark repeated. 

“No.” 

“How could you not know who I was? That I had a family? A mother that would mourn me? A girlfriend, a partner I wanted to marry? How could you not know? You know everything!” Clark hissed.

“I didn’t want to know. I was pretty sure you were living a secret life somewhere, but that only fuelled the rage.”

Clark laughed. “Yes, because how dare I live in this world and deceive the people who care about me?” 

It wasn’t really a question, but Bruce nodded anyway. He took another sip of his coffee. Clark watched him. It was fascinating, really. Bruce was fascinating. Clark liked Bruce’s hands. They looked big. There were little scars on them too. 

“Why did you ask me to come here?” Clark asked, tearing his eyes away from Bruce’s hand. 

“You didn’t take any of the offers I sent your way,” Bruce replied. 

“I don’t need your help to find employment. In fact I have a job. Starting tomorrow. I think soon I can find an apartment on my own and move out of Diana’s loft.” 

“You realize you don’t have to do this alone anymore, right?” Bruce asked. 

“Because I have powerful friends now?” 

Bruce put the delicate coffee cup down and looked at him. “Yes, because you have powerful friends now.” 

Clark sighed. He wasn’t sure that they were friends. He wasn’t sure Bruce even included himself in that statement. 

“Thank you, but I want to do this on my own.” 

“Very well,” Bruce said. 

And that should have been the end of it. 

 

~Two~  
Clark spent most of his time not thinking about his life. He went to work, he worked, he made small talk. He didn’t make friends.  
No one knew him here. No one knew he had been declared dead at one point. He was just a guy. He didn’t feel like just a guy.  
When he wasn’t working he was saving people. It was a reflex, really. And probably another coping mechanism.  
He called his mother sometimes so she wouldn’t worry.  
Around the third month of working construction and living this new life he realized that he wasn’t living at all. He was existing.  
He frowned at himself in the mirror.  
When was the last time he had felt alive? Breakfast with Bruce, he realized. Dinner with Diana.  
He wasn’t ready to meet up with Bruce again, because the man was unnerving and Clark still couldn’t pin down his motives.  
Diana was a safer bet. 

~+~  
“How is your new apartment?” Diana asked. 

“Small,” Clark replied. It was the truth. It was small, but right now he didn’t need anything bigger.

“You could have stayed at the loft.”

“I know, but I needed to get my life back in order on my own and staying at your loft for free was not getting my life back together.” 

Diana nodded. “I’m glad you called.”

It was a bit out of the blue, but Clark liked how frank she was. “You were worried about me.” 

“Yes, I was. Bruce is too. Everyone really,” Diana replied. He wondered if she meant Barry, Victor and Arthur by everyone, but didn’t ask. 

“I’m fine.” 

“That’s hard to believe. I wasn’t fine when I lost Steve. I wasn’t fine at all. I’m just now starting to live again,” Diana replied. 

“He was your first love?” Clark asked, because he didn’t know much about her and he wanted to know everything. Wanted to reach inside her and grab a handful of her secrets like pearls and look at them from all angles. 

“He was and it’s stupid really, because he was the first men I met,” she smiled fondly. 

“Lois was obviously not the first woman I ever met, but she was the first woman who ever saw me,” Clark said. She was still seeing him and he couldn’t deal with it. It was the comparison he thought. The Clark: before. The Clark: after. 

“He wasn’t the last of course,” Diana said.

It made Clark wonder about her and Bruce again, but he wasn’t going to ask about it.  
“You’re saying Lois won’t be the last?” Clark asked. 

“You could patch things up with Lois,” Diana said. 

He had entertained that idea himself for a while, but now he knew that he wasn’t going to patch things up with Lois.  
Lois had been the love and partner he had wanted and needed and craved before. Now he craved something else. Someone else.  
“I don’t think so,” Clark replied. 

She nodded. “How is construction?” 

Clark smiled. “Boring, I guess? I’ve done it before. I’ve done a lot of things before.”

“Tell me about it,” Diana said and because she seemed genuinely interested he did tell her about the time he was looking for his roots all over the world. 

~+~  
There was usually a pattern to all things, so he figured there was a pattern to the hunger too. And the hunger wasn’t only about food. Food he learned over time was actually a substitute for what he really needed, but he hadn’t figured that out yet, so he stuck to food for now.  
Food was better with Diana there. Everything was better with Diana there.  
He knew things about her now. He hoarded these little stories, these secrets, these moments from her long life. Every time he could add another to his collection he felt a little more satisfied. 

“And maybe you want to come with me,” Diana finished. 

“To the opening?” Clark asked. 

“Well, yes. I mean, you do go out sometimes, right?” 

“Only to meet up with you,” Clark answered honestly. 

She smiled. “Other people aren’t hell, you know?” 

“If I thought that I would live in a cave, all by myself,” Clark said. 

“So, you want to come?”

“Sure,” Clark said. “It’s a date.” 

“It is,” Diana replied. 

~+~  
It was a relatively small gallery, but everything looked expensive from the art to the people. He wasn’t surprised to see Bruce there.  
Diana wasn’t either. 

“You made it,” Diana said, kissing his cheek. They seemed comfortable in each other’s spaces and a part of Clark felt awkward watching it for some reason. The other part enjoyed it, wanted to see more, observe closer.  
The way Bruce’s eyes softened when he looked at her. The easy way Diana touched him. 

“Of course,” he let go of her and turned to Clark. “Clark.” 

“Bruce,” Clark replied, holding out his hand. He suddenly needed to touch Bruce. Needed to feel Bruce’s fingers curl around his, needed to feel the warmth of him: just needed. 

Bruce took his hand, squeezed gently, smiled that half smile with one corner of his lips, but it reached his eyes. “I’m glad you came.” 

Yes, Clark thought, he was glad he came too. 

~+~  
His mind flashed to that night at the gallery opening: dancing with Diana, watching Diana dance with Bruce. He wondered how it would feel being pressed to Bruce’s wide chest. How it would feel to let Bruce lead.  
He didn’t wonder where those thoughts were coming from. He didn’t need to. It was the hunger gnawing at him.  
Diana and Bruce fed the hunger. He had realized it at the gallery opening, that it was both of them. That the craving was under control when he was with both of them. Had them close by. Could touch them.  
He just needed to have them both more often. That shouldn’t be a big problem.  
Keeping his distance from Bruce wasn’t an option anymore. 

~+~  
“How is it that even I paid a fortune for the security at this place, everyone seems to come in like he pleases,” Bruce asked, without interrupting his work on the car. Batmobile, Diana had called it that. 

“It looks expensive,” Clark said and Bruce laughed. It was a nice sound, Clark thought. He kept it close and locked it up inside that place inside him that hungered for these things. 

“Diana said the same thing.”

“You don’t need to worry about the security, Bruce,” Clark said, coming closer, flying up to Bruce, hovering just inches away. Bruce looked up at him briefly. 

“No?”

“No, Alfred let me in. I bet he lets Diana in as well.”

“He does,” Bruce replied. 

“See? You’re perfectly safe here,” Clark said, but he wasn’t sure it was true. Wasn’t sure he wasn’t a danger to Bruce. 

“To what do I own the pleasure?” Bruce asked, putting the wrench away and wiping his hands on a rag. 

“Is it?” Clark asked. The hunger wanted to know. The hunger wanted an affirmative. 

“Is it what?” 

“A pleasure.” Clark answered. “Because with you I’m never sure. You hate me, you bring me back. You need me.”

“The world needs you,” Bruce replied. 

“What about what I need?” Clark asked, cocking his head to the side. 

“Honestly? These days I really don’t know what you need,” Bruce replied. 

“Did you know before?” Clark asked. 

“Before what?” 

“Before I died?” It wasn’t a fair question and Clark knew it. 

“I didn’t. I didn’t know anything. I still don’t know anything, except that you’re different.” 

“Death does that to people.”

“What?” Bruce asked. 

“Change them,” Clark replied, looking up at the cave ceiling. It was cool down here, but not cold. He liked it for some reason. He thought it suited Bruce well too. Or maybe it suited Batman. 

“Arthur said that too,” Bruce said. “Before we brought you back.” 

“Did you consider that he might be right?” 

Bruce blinked. “At the time it was a risk worth taking. I knew we needed you.”

“You needed me,” Clark nodded. 

“You seemed fine after you talked to Lois,” Bruce said.

“It was clever of you to bring her there.”

“Really it was Diana who gave me that idea. I was sure if you recognized anyone it would be her.”

“I recognized you,” Clark said, because he remembered everything. He had felt disoriented and strange in his body, but he remembered everything. 

Bruce smiled wryly. “For all the good it did us.” 

“I didn’t kill you,” Clark said. 

“Well, you made me bleed. I guess we’re square now.”

“It was strange feeling weak,” Clark said, remembering the way Bruce had been so relentless, how single-minded he had gone after Clark, how he made Clark bleed. 

“Not for me,” Bruce said. “Come on, I bet Alfred is ready and willing to feed you.”

“Feed me?” 

“Yes. Or me, really. I’ve been down here for hours and Alfred will grab at any excuse to make me eat upstairs in the house.” 

“I don’t mind being an excuse,” Clark said. 

Bruce gave him a look. “You are different.” 

“Everything is, Bruce,” Clark replied. “You are too. Diana as well.” 

He followed Bruce to the lift. Could see a moment of hesitation before Bruce stepped inside and Clark joined him, the door closed. He was aware of Bruce. Of his breath, his heartbeat, the smell of Bruce’s skin. He wanted to stay trapped with Bruce like this forever, or at least until he found the courage to press (slam, pin) Bruce against the wall and claim his mouth, steal his breath.  
And then suddenly the moment was over, but Bruce looked at him over his shoulder like he knew he just escaped something. Something maybe dangerous. 

“A Master Kent, dinner will be ready in ten minutes, sirs,” Alfred said with a warm smile. 

Clark smiled back. “Thank you.”

“I will wash up then, “ Bruce said. “Make yourself at home, Clark.” 

Clark nodded. Bruce seemed completely at ease here too. Like in the cave. The sun was shining on pretty much every surface, there weren’t many shadows. 

“It’s an unusual house,” Clark commented once Bruce joined him at the kitchen table. The food smelled divine and the hunger was humming under his skin in anticipation. 

“I guess so, but then I’m an unusual man,” Bruce said. 

Which was true enough. Clark was spared from having to come up with an answer to that by Alfred serving the food. It didn’t only smell divine, it tasted very good too. He devoured it. 

“You were hungry,” Bruce commented. 

“I am always hungry.” 

“Like Barry?” Bruce asked. 

“I don’t know, maybe.” 

“Was it like this before?” Bruce asked. 

“I don’t think so.” 

“You don’t think so…” Bruce said, skepticism in every word. He shoved his nearly empty plate aside and rested his head in his hands. “Did I make a mistake?” 

“You saved the world,” Clark said. 

“You saved the world, Victor saved the world,” Bruce replied. 

“It took more than one person to save the world. It took all of you to bring me back,” Clark said. 

“But did I make a mistake?” Bruce repeated. His eyes were dark and bottomless and – hungry too, Clark thought. 

“You saved the world,” he answered, shrugging. “I was nothing to you. We barely knew each other before I died.” 

“Is that why you’re here?” Bruce asked. 

“Maybe. You went to such lengths, Bruce. Maybe this is worth getting to know you over. Besides,” he said, “you know who I am. And I know who you are.” It didn’t mean of course that there were no secrets left to uncover. There were a million small things to find out and treasure about Bruce. Clark had already started piling them up inside that hungry place. “Don’t you think so too?”

Bruce nodded. “Yes, I think so too.” 

“Now that you don’t want to kill me anymore, you’re curious about me.” 

“Now that you don’t want to kill me-“

“I never wanted to kill you,” Clark cut in. “I just wanted you to stop.” 

“Fair enough,” Bruce said. 

“I realize now that it would have been your death. There was nothing else for you to live for, was there?” 

Bruce’s eyes were dark and clear and shocked. 

The hungry place was satisfied, he had another delicious secret, another piece of Bruce inside him. It would be enough for a while. He looked away from Bruce’s eyes. “Is there dessert I wonder?” 

Bruce blinked; Clark could hear his soft intake of breath. “Yes, I am sure.” 

Clark nodded his thanks. 

 

~Three~  
Diana was looking at him. Just looking, her lips were still shiny from his kiss and she was just looking at him. 

“Was that unexpected?” Clark asked. 

She shook her head. “I had a feeling you were interested.” 

“I am,” Clark said. He could still taste her on his tongue. She tasted different. Humans, he was sure, wouldn’t know the difference, but his senses were so much stronger. “Are you?” 

“You know I am,” Diana said and she grabbed him by his neck and pulled him in. Her kiss was hard and perfect before she gentled it and that was perfect too. Now he knew how she kissed when she meant it and it was thrilling. 

“Good,” Clark said. “I was worried there for a second that I might have overstepped.”

“I can handle you, Clark,” Diana replied. 

He knew that. He might be stronger than her, but she was undoubtedly the more skilled fighter of them too. Hell Bruce was a better fighter than Clark. 

He liked that she was taking the lead. He liked that she could slam him into a wall and push him around and he liked that she liked it too.  
He liked that she didn’t even hesitate when she pinned his hips down and sucked the head of his cock into her mouth. He liked the strength in her hands, liked the warmth of her mouth. Loved how her soft hair felt between his fingers.  
He had only thought about her that way in vague terms, reality was so much more intense. He loved her unique smell, too. Loved the rhythm of her heartbeat. She was skilled at this and not afraid of his strength and he didn’t need to hold himself back with her. 

“Diana-“

She hummed to let him know that it was okay to come in her mouth and that – kind of fried his brain.  
She looked up at him, smiling with her eyes, her lips were shiny and perfect and he was still catching his breath.  
“You didn’t have to,” he said, cradling her face gently. 

“I wanted to, besides I can’t catch anything from anyone. I don’t even get sick,” she replied. She kissed his palm. “Still, condoms when you’re inside me, because I might not get pregnant by mortal men, but you are a whole other kind of being.” She winked at him and got up. 

“You turn,” Clark said. 

She grinned at him and Clark’s cock got interested again. 

~+~  
He didn’t compare his sex partners, because he’s never done that, but he was cataloguing now. The way she moved, the way she bit her lip, the way she tightened around him.  
Her hands on his legs, digging in when she rode his cock. Her nipples, her mouth, the soft moans.  
She was breathtaking like this.  
She kissed him as she came and her unique taste flooded his senses.  
He put his arms around her and held her close. He was in no rush and her lips against his own felt amazing. 

“I love your stamina,” Diana said.

“I love your stamina,” Clark replied. 

She laughed, touched her forehead to his. “Can you concentrate on flying while you fuck?”

He had never considered that possibility. “Quite adventurous, aren’t you?” 

Diana shrugged. “Now that I’m living again, I want to try everything I can.” 

“We can try,” Clark said. 

She kissed him. 

Clark liked the subtle scent clinging to her too. That scent, that was so wholly Bruce. He inhaled it when they hugged. 

“Clark,” she was laughing at him. 

“You smell good,” Clark said. “You were with Bruce today.”

“I was. You can smell him on me? Even now that I am covered in all kinds of things?” Diana asked. 

“Yes,” Clark answered and it smelled delicious. It was even better than her own scent on its lonesome. Something about Bruce and Diana made his heart race. 

“And you like it,” she stated. 

“Very much,” Clark replied. 

~+~  
Bruce was still unnerving him, but in a whole different way.  
Whenever he had sex with Diana now he had Bruce’s scent there as well. It was hard not to nuzzle Bruce’s neck and inhale his scent when they hugged. 

“Diana is good for you,” Bruce said, pouring himself a drink. 

“I think Diana is good for everyone,” Clark replied. He declined the drink Bruce was offering him. He watched Bruce move instead. “Is that why you wanted me to come over? To talk about Diana? My intentions?”

“Would I be that obvious?” 

“You sometimes are, when it suits you. You let me know right away that you were going to kill me, you know when we still hated each other.” 

“It’s a good thing we don’t hate each other anymore then,” Bruce said.

Clark looked out of the window. One of many. “Diana was right, you are full of contradictions. I like that about you.”

“Talking about me behind my back-“

“We talk about you all the time, Bruce. You’re fascinating.” He turned so he could look at Bruce’s face again. “I think you find us fascinating as well.” 

Bruce gulped his drink down and poured another. 

“It’s not a bad thing, you know?” Clark said, closing the space between them. Bruce wasn’t backing down, but then Bruce was Bruce was Bruce and that was one of the things Clark had learned about him. Bruce wasn’t backing down. He put his glass down and looked at Clark. To an outsider he looked relaxed enough. “I can sense your tension, you know? You can’t fool me.” 

“Well, you’re way too close, Clark.”

“That is-,” Clark said gently, and he was only inches from Bruce now. He could smell him, could hear his heartbeat, could see everything about Bruce, even the things Bruce waned to hide. He paused. Bruce was always lying in one way or other, but over the last few months, Clark had gently gathered Bruce’s secrets to his chest: and it was only natural to want to gather Bruce now too. 

“That is what; Clark?” Bruce asked. 

Clark blinked. “That is because I’m coming on to you.” 

“I don’ think you’re feeling alright.” 

“I feel fine. I am declaring my intentions-“

“You’re with Diana,” Bruce cut him off. Of course that could be something of a problem for Bruce, but it wasn’t a problem for Clark. He didn’t think it would be a problem for Diana either. Once he explained to her, to Bruce, how he needed them both. 

“Yes, that is true, it doesn’t mean I can’t be with you,” Clark said. “Or that you can’t be with Diana as well.” 

“Clark-“

“I don’t buy that you don’t want her. Alfred jokes all the time how you’re made for each other.”

“Are we? She’s a goddess, you’re…”

“A god?” Clark asked with a smile. He’s never seen himself that way, knew that he would never see himself that way and he didn’t want for Bruce to see him that way. “You wanted to kill the god.” 

“Clark.” Bruce said and this time it was sharp and Clark knew he hurt Bruce and he took that treasure and put it away. He didn’t want to hurt Bruce, but he wanted to treasure the knowledge Bruce gave him that he could. 

“I’m sorry,” Clark said. “That was thoughtless. I’m no god. Aren’t you going to be at least as brave as Lois had been?” He asked gently. He even dared to curl his fingers around Bruce’s arm. 

Bruce didn’t flinch or pull away. That was a good sign. 

Clark sighed. “Do you think of yourself in this scenario as lesser somehow?” 

“I’m old,” Bruce said. “I wasn’t only ready to kill you. I was ready to die.”

“Well that didn’t happen,” Clark said. 

Bruce smiled. “No, it didn’t.” 

“Are you still ready to die?” Clark asked, because he knew from Diana that Bruce had been a bit suicidal when they had confronted Steppenwolf. Or maybe a lot suicidal. 

“No,” Bruce answered. 

“What are you living for now?” Clark wanted to know. He had an idea, but he wanted to hear it from Bruce. 

For a split second it looked like Bruce was going to lie, but then he looked at Clark. His eyes clear and focused and intend. “Curiosity.” His fingers curled around Clark’s neck and he pulled, Clark went willingly. Bruce tasted sharp like the whisky he had, but underneath he tasted sweet and human. He didn’t feel fragile in Clark’s arms. He didn’t back down either, but of course Clark had known that.  
“Now that we’re being honest, how about you tell me what has been going on with you lately?” Bruce asked, once he broke the kiss.

“And with lately you mean?”

“Since you came back,” Bruce answered. 

Clark sighed, rested his forehead against Bruce’s. Breathed him in. “I guess it’s time.” He kissed the corner of Bruce’s lips before he straightened and stepped away from Bruce. “I think we should ask Diana to come over as well.” 

Bruce nodded. It didn’t surprise Clark that Bruce had her on speed dial. 

~+~  
“But do you help people because you want to help people or do you help them because that’s what you’ve always done?” Diana asked. Her eyes were sharp and made him pause before he answered. Clark had tried to explain how everything felt different since he came back from the dead, but it was hard, because no one else had done it before and he didn’t have the vocabulary for it. They had been at it for almost an hour now and Clark still didn’t know if he got it across. 

“I – I think because I’ve always done it?” He wasn’t sure, really. It was something he did. It was something to do. 

“I see,” Diana said. 

“What?” He crossed his arms over his chest, getting annoyed. 

Bruce was silent. Too silent. Bruce was thinking and fast and Clark would most likely not like what Bruce would have to say once he was done thinking. 

“And when you’re with us, me or Bruce,” Diana continued, “Do you want to help people then?” 

He frowned. “I am helping people, so why does it matter what the reason is?” 

“That you don’t know that is worrying,” Bruce said. 

“It matters to us, Clark,” Diana said gently. 

“You think something is wrong with me,” Clark hissed. He knew something was different, but he didn’t think it was wrong, he had realized that over the last few months. 

“Don’t you think something is wrong with you?” Bruce asked. 

“Not when I’m with you,” Clark answered. Which was mostly the truth. He felt whole when he was with Bruce and Diana. All those little treasured secrets and moments he had been gathering over the last few months filled him up inside and the hunger was silent, maybe even dormant.

“Not when you’re with Diana?” Bruce asked. 

“With you, you and Diana. It’s …I’m better with you.” It was hard to explain. 

“And you still think you’re fine, Clark?” Bruce asked. 

“I never thought I was fine as you all seem to define fine after I came back from the dead, but I’m not broken or dangerous. I’m different. I –“

“What?” Diana asked gently. 

“I crave things,” Clark answered. 

“Like what?” Bruce wanted to know. 

“Like knowing you, knowing Diana. I like to listen to your voices, I like to hoard your secrets.” 

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his noise. He looked like he had no idea what to say to that.  
That was fine. “I want you to know my secrets too,” Clark continued and meant it. Maybe that was the intention of the hunger. Not only filling and satisfying this hunger, but also sharing it in a way. “I want to be known.”

“Lois knew you,” Bruce said. It was so typical Bruce, Clark thought fondly. 

“I knew every one of Lois secrets. It wasn’t going to work out. I realized that soon after we moved back in together.”

“And you think it will be different once you know all our secrets?” Diana asked gently. 

“You’re a goddess, you lived over a hundred years. I hardly scratched the surface of what makes you you. Besides you evolve too.”

“Lois evolves,” Bruce cut in. 

“Why are you making this about Lois?” Clark asked sharply. 

“Because you dumped her even we all know you loved her, because you crave things, secrets, memories, probably other things and you think you can have those things from me and Diana and I want to know how that will affect us now and in the future.” 

“If I will dump you in fifty years?” Clark asked. 

Bruce laughed. “I don’t even know if I’ll be alive in fifty years, Clark.” 

“Bruce-“ Diana said, but he held up a hand to silence her. 

“I’m not that complicated. What if you get bored? What if your hunger finds another target?”

“I don’t think I can ever get bored with you. You’re changing all the time,” Clark said. 

“Am I?” 

“Yes,” Clark said. 

“And Lois didn’t?” Bruce asked. 

Clark had to think about it. “Maybe she would have, but she was the same. Always wanting and always seeking for the truth. She also had a before and an after version of me. She was looking for the before version. She was hungry for that.” 

“And we’re not? Because that is bullshit,” Bruce said. “We want to know things too. We want to know things about you. I want to dissect you-“

“Yes, you do and a year ago, maybe you would have done it, but you’ve changed,” Clark said. 

“Do you think your hunger will be sated one day? That you will get back to being you?”

“I am me. The me now. I can’t go back to being the old me. No one really can,” Clark replied. And maybe that was the reason for the breakup with Lois as well. He wasn’t the man she had fallen in love with anymore. He didn’t want to be that man or pretend to be that man. “I don’t want to pretend to be someone else. I realize that I am better with you two around.” 

“Well that is a messed up way to start a relationship,” Bruce commented. 

“So you want to?” Clark asked hopefully. 

“And what if I only want to so I can keep an eye on you?” Bruce challenged. 

“Are you that afraid of me?” Clark asked. “Please don’t lie now.”

Bruce sighed. “No. You haven’t done anything to make me think you’re more dangerous than you were before you died.” 

That had been expected, really. Bruce had always thought that Clark had the potential to be dangerous. And now he had a way to keep Clark from getting to that point. Clark was thinking that maybe this wasn’t the best way to start something either. Was it blackmail? Coercion? Did it matter in the long run? Clark would have liked to say that he knew Bruce would do it anyway, but it was also likely he would find a way to lock Clark up. 

“Bruce?” Diana asked. 

“You love him,” Bruce stated. 

She shrugged. “Yes. I didn’t really know him before. I only know this hungry him and it suits the curious me.” 

Bruce frowned. 

“Doesn’t this hungry me suit any part of you?” Clark asked. He dared to reach out and curl his fingers around Bruce’s neck. Stroked the skin behind his ear. 

“It suits a part of me,” Bruce said. 

“Which part?” Clark wanted to know. 

Bruce smiled, sharply. “You’ll have to find out on your own, won’t you?” He asked just before he crushed his mouth to Clark’s. 

Clark was absolutely fine with that. 

~+~  
“It’s not, you see, that I don’t have any morals left anymore,” Clark said, running his fingers over one of Bruce’s bigger scars. Bruce’s body was covered in them and Clark was fascinated with every single one. He wanted to know every story behind ever scar, behind every broken bone. 

“I know,” Bruce said. 

Diana watched them from the other side of the bed. She was naked like the both of them and radiating. Clark thought she always looked the most alive during a fight or sex. 

“It’s just,” Clark needed Bruce and Diana to understand, he needed to. He needed to share this, to be known, “I care about things less now. Certain things. Not all things. I realize that there are expectations, but I’m less willing to sacrifice everything for them. I don’t want to pretend.”

“Pretend to be what?” Diana asked. 

“To be human all the time. I think Lois was the most – that’s not right. She liked to see the human side of me.”

“And that’s gone now?” Diana continued. 

“No, obviously it’s not gone, Diana, it’s just not as prominent as it used to be,” he kissed Bruce’s scar. “I think the motherbox made me more Kryptonian than I was before.” 

“I didn’t think that was possible,” Bruce said. 

Clark liked how steady his heart was, how unafraid he was. He also liked the spike of something when Clark looked at him a certain way, or pressed him down into the mattress. Bruce could be both submissive and dominant and it could change in the blink of an eye and Clark loved it. It was exciting. 

“Neither did I, but who knows with what kind of forces we played with to bring me back.”

“You weren’t asked about it,” Bruce said. 

“Hard to ask me for consent, I was dead,” Clark replied gently. “I am glad to be alive, Bruce.” 

“We are too,” Diana reassured him. 

Bruce cupped Clark’s face with one hand. “You were more human before you died.”

“Well, we established I’m not anymore,” Clark said. “Would you even want me more human?” 

“I don’t know. I didn’t want you that way before you died, or right after you came back.” 

“I know. Neither did Diana,” Clark said. “Maybe this is by design then.” 

“Whose design?” Diana asked. 

Clark shrugged. “I don’t know. Right now I don’t care. You know what I am now, who I am now. You are strong enough to deal with it.” 

Bruce frowned again. 

“Not everything needs to be solved right now. Some things are better uncovered slowly. Piece by piece, secret by shared secret.” 

Bruce sighed, but then pulled Clark down on him so he could kiss Clark. 

“Ready for round two, I see,” Diana said. 

Clark reached for her hand and pulled her closer. “Yes, ready for round two.” 

He didn’t think he would change much more, but he wasn’t sure about it, and it was reassuring to know that he had two people who would be there for him. Right now he was going to enjoy this new and exciting life after death.


End file.
